Chapter – Ii Economic Development of Tiruchirappalli Under Colonial Rule
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CHAPTER – II ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF TIRUCHIRAPPALLI UNDER COLONIAL RULE The establishment of the British rule in Tiruchirappalli had a great impact in the economic history Tiruchirappalli region. As agriculture was the major occupation of the people, the British made several efforts to develop it in order to increase the revenue of the government. The experiment of various revenue settlements and the improvement of irrigation system contributed to develop agriculture activities and thereby it provided a source of revenue to the British. However, the British did not give much importance to the progress of the industry in Tiruchirappalli region. 1. Colonial Economic Policy Colonialism does mean the introduction of capitalist relations of production or capitalist structure into Agriculture, Industry and Trade. It exhibits the character of bourgeois state system, legal and property relations, the development of capitalist mode of production or of productive power. 1 The British East India Company enjoyed a monopoly of British trade with India and the Far East until 1813. At that time the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes and the French were also engaged in trading with India. The chief articles of trade were cotton, silk textiles and opium. While the British and the French traded mostly in cotton and silk, the Dutch appears to have specialised in the opium trade with the Far East.2 It is pointed out that while the British gave to India centralised administration, a new 1 Biban Chandra, Essays on Colonialism, Orient Longman Limited, New Delhi, 1999, p.7. 2 Dhires Bhattacharyya, A Concise History of Indian Economy, New Delhi, Vested Solely Publisher, New Delhi, 1980, p. 7. 26 judicial system, a law and order agency and thereby created a favorable framework for the country‟s economic growth, development did not take place. The state apparatus was used in the interest of British industry and against that of the Indian economy. Agriculture is the largest and most important sector of Indian Economy. About 67 per cent of the people depend upon agriculture and more than 75 per cent live on it in the villages. Those who live outside village in one way or other connected to the village through trade in agriculture products and agro based industrial development. Agriculture has an important role to play in the economic development of any agrarian economy like that of India. Agriculture literally feeds the process of development. It meets the needs for foodgrains on account of increase in population. In addition it supplies raw material for many consumer items like edible oils, sugar, cloth etc. The crux of the problem lies in what constitutes ownership, a difficult issue in most legal system and one leading to endless confusion in India. We have used the term “Land Holder” to the person who had superior rights in the land, generally marked by the liability to pay land revenue.3 As the British extended their rule over South India, with its bewildering variety of land system, they were faced with three sets of problems. Their most urgent need was the land revenue and the high rates charged by their immediate predecessors were very helpful for the British to collect more revenue. In the southern districts the question of „mirasi‟ rights was particularly troubling since the mirasdars claimed that some of the village lands were free of revenue that the uncultivated lands could not be assigned to other without their permission, and that they had rights over the forests, quarries and so forth. The government had no clear policy on these claims in the first half of 19th century. The responsibility fell 3 Dharma Kumar, (ed), The Cambridge Economic History of India, Vol-II, c .1757.c.1970, Orient Longman Limited, New Delhi, 1994, p.208. 27 upon the Collectors and as in many other matters, each Collector, more or less made his own policy. There also existed the Zamindari system. The word „Zamindar‟ 4 was defined by the Fifth Report as an occupant of land or a land holder5. They acted as revenue collaborators of the British government. The Zamindars were happy with the status acquired through their role in the revenue system and from the recognition that the government accorded to them, whether local chiefs or revenue agents continued to collect the revenue. When the haveli lands belonging to the former Muslim rulers were parceled out into estates and sold to the highest bidder, they also were treated as Zamindars6. The land revenue was fixed in perpetuity, and the Zamindar was made both inheritable and transferable. The uncultivated lands and wastelands were given to the Zamindars free of assessment. They were found in particular every Tamil district, but nearly always in the dry areas, but the estates were most extensive in the Southern most districts. Regarding its difficulties with the zamindari system as merely temporary, the government next went back to contracting out the revenue collection for villages as a whole to middleman, who might be former rent collectors or the leading cultivators of the village or in some cases, speculators with little experience of the revenue system.7 These village lease were initially made to last three or five years. British also developed road, railways and ports. But these were used for the export of Indian raw materials to England and for the import of British manufactured goods into India. Even the establishment of railways in India was 4 Zamindars was derived from the Persian language laterally Zamin means land, Dar means possessor, an occupant of land or a land holder. 5 Fifth Report, Report of the Affairs of the East India Company, Part 1, Madras, 1812, p.7. 6 Chakravarthi, B.R., A Hand Book on Land Tenures in the Madras residency, Madras, 1924, p.76. 7 Christopher Johan Baker, “Tamil Nadu Estates in the Twentieth Century India”, Economic and Social History Review, XIII No-1, Jan-March, 1976, p.44. 28 done with imported equipments thereby positively preventing the growth of iron and steel industry in the country. Industrial and Commercial Policies were so designed that not only the existing native manufacturing industries were destroyed but also new industries were prevented from coming up. Heavy import duties were imposed on Indian goods exported to Britain and high excise duties were levied on goods manufactured in India.8 2. Agricultural Development i) Irrigation The district is one of the privileged of a few to have the river Cauvery, one of the biggest rivers in South India and its main branch, the Coleroon to traverse through its lands. The other important rivers flowing in the district are the Amaravathi, the Aiyar, the Karavattar, the Mammundiar, the Nandiyar, the Noyyal and the Vellar. The river Cauvery rises on the Western Ghats near Mercarra in Coorg district of the state of Karnataka. The river is said to be named after Kaveri, the daughter of a sage. It is held in high esteem by the people of Tamil Nadu as the nature‟s precious boon. This is referred to as „Dakshina Ganga‟ or Southern Ganges and ArthaGanga „Half Ganga‟ in the Vedic lore and finds mention in many a piece of literature, epics, poems and dramas of this country. The beautiful orchards that live up to its banks, the fertile lands in its basin, which yield good harvest have all been verified by the boards of this land. Over centuries the people in the Cauvery valley have been enjoying its boundary.9 The river drains the eastern slope of Western Ghats and flows to a distance of 792km Eastward finally enters the Bay of Bengal at Kaveripoompattinam or Poompuhar or Puhar in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. The river enters 8 Partha Sarathi Gupta., Imperialism and British Labour Movement, SAGE Publications, New Delhi, 1976, p.37. 9 Bhatt, R.C, op.cit., p.1178. 29 Tamil Nadu making a waterfall in Hogenakkal in Dharmapuri district. Three minor tributaries, the Palar, the Chinnar and the Thoppaiyar join the Cauvery near Mettur. Then the river is joined by the rivers Bhavani in periyar district and the Noyyal and the Amaravathi in Tiruchirappalli district. The Cauvery enters Tiruchirappalli district in its North West corner with a name Aganda Cauvery after running for a few kilometers touching the border lines of Nammakkal and Karur taluks. It passes straight through the middle of the district, west to east, dividing into two equal parts. About 16km west of Tiruchirappalli town the river splits into two branches of which the northern takes the name „The Coleroon‟ or Kollidam branch while the Southern retains the name the Cauvery. River Cauvery was causing tremendous havoc in Tiruchirappalli and delta region. Further, for effective management of the water source for agricultural purpose, Karikala, the Chola ruler of the Sangam Age built the historic Grant Anicut at the head of the Cauvery delta in the 2nd century A.D. This structure helps to regulate water level for feeding the delta and releases the surplus flows back into Coleroon. According to “Pattinapallai”, a sangam work, king Karikala was the founder of the capital Kaveripoompattinam and commencd sort of festival known as the first fresher of the Cauvery.10 The „Grand Anicut‟ was subsequently strengthened by a Later or Imperial Chola ruler, Vira Rajendra also called Karikala.11 There were many old and indigenous work carried out by the Imperial Cholas. The important being the „Uyyakoondan‟ Channel (A.D 985-1013) constructed by king Raja Raja. At the head sluice of channel are two inscriptions one of them records repairs done to the channel after a breach. The channel leaves the river Cauvery at a distance of few miles over Tiruchirappalli and flowing through the towns itself and falls into a large tank in the village of Vallavandankottai about 10 miles to the east of Tiruchirappalli.